Screwfix on Sandwich Bags in Greasy Spoon Cafes

If you’ve been in a proper greasy spoon recently, the kind with builder’s tea, laminated menus and sausages that don’t mess about, you might’ve noticed something unexpected with your breakfast. Alongside the bacon butty and the inevitable grease stains, there’s a message printed on the sandwich bag: Screwfix are opening a new store nearby.

Screwfix’s core audience is tradespeople. Builders, sparks, plumbers. People who start early, work hard and grab breakfast somewhere quick before getting on with the day. And for decades, Greasy Spoon Cafés have been part of that routine. They’re familiar, local and practical, just like Screwfix itself.

Branded Sandwich Bags in cafés located near the new store openings target the local workforce. They’re holding the message in their hands. They can’t scroll past it or mute it. That’s a level of attention most brands would kill for, and it comes without competing with loads of other messages on a screen.

Good media strategy doesn’t always come from chasing the newest platform or the biggest reach. Sometimes it comes from understanding habits, routines and context. Screwfix know where their customers actually spend time and chose something that felt natural, useful and human to communicate with them.

Just one question remains: Red or Brown sauce?